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Vichy Dermablend Corrective Fluid Foundation

It is no secret to anyone who’s ever spent more than fifteen minutes with me that I am a bit of a klutz. My inability to exit a restaurant without having broken at least one glass is a bit of a running joke among my friends, and I have a long and storied history of walking into doors.

There was that time I – unaware that curfew had long passed, so wrapped up was I (literally, we had a blanket) with watching a movie with my middle school crush that I ran nose-first into my locked dormitory at boarding school in South India, leaving a permanent indent in the tip of my nose and forever crystallizing adolescence, boys, and Independence Day in my memory – aliens, embarassment and a runny nose.

Then there was an evening in Saigon a couple of years ago when I drank too much wine and walked straight into the glass doors of an incredibly chichi French restaurant on my way to the ladies’ with a thwack so loud that the neighbouring table, who were in the midst of a toast, paused to stare. Whose idea was it to combine glass doors, low to practically nonexistent lighting and an extensive wine list, anyway?

And last week in Naples, I walked into a very large and, in retrospect, unnecessarily ornate wrought iron gate which turned out to guard the entrance to the Ghanian embassy, rounding off my cross-continental tally of unfortunate door collisions to Asia, Europe, and – Africa.

The latter incident has left me with a bright red gash under my right eyebrow, one that no one has commented on or inquired after yet – a fact that has less to do with the heartlessness of the people I surround myself with (just kidding, friends and familia) and more with my choice of cover up; in this case, the Vichy Dermablend Corrective Fluid Foundation, a recent French pharmacy find.

It is no secret that French pharmacies are magical caves that hold the secret to everlasting joy and happiness, but I wasn’t, in this instance, looking for foundation – (or greatness) – a well-meaning pregnant woman in a white lab coat thrust it upon me.

“Try this!” she said, while I was ambling through the shampoo aisle. “It is vairy good!” She told me she’d been using the foundation, the lovechild of beloved French skincare brand Vichy and Dermablend, the heavy duty, professional makeup brand used on stage and in film to cover up errant scars, birthmarks and tattoos for roles (and made famous with this video starring Zombie Boy) to cover up her melasma, a temporary splattering of large freckles caused by pregnancy.

Her skin showed nary a sign of a freckle and I, always on the lookout for the one foundation that will make me look like I have perfect skin without actually looking like I’ve got anything on, bought it immédiatement.

And it’s great. The foundation, and the accompanying line which consists of concealer, finishing powder, compact and body makeup, was formulated for skin with imperfections, regardless of how minor – from blemishes and dark spots all the way to pigmentation disorders and surgery scars.

Putting this stuff on (in tiny little dabs at a time, because a little goes a very long way) is like using the Blur tool on Photoshop – all the little imperfections, the acne scars and the errant freckle, the redness around the nose, the dark circles from late nights and early mornings and that gash from being a naturally gifted klutz; they're virtually erased. The company promises 16-hour coverage and an ‘even and radiant’ complexion with a ‘non-greasy, lightweight, flawless finish’, and it delivers on all counts.

It also holds up gorgeously regardless of the weather – I’ve worn it in 12°C cold, rainy Swiss weather with dry, flaky skin, under the sharp 40°C Tuscan sun and finally during summer in full swing here in India when my face turns into a veritable oil slick and foundations tend not to stand a chance; the light, richly-pigmented formula somehow manages to never look thick, cakey or mask like, all while delivering that elusive long lasting, even, radiant finish.

The best bit? It’s formulated to suit even the most sensitive skin without causing breakouts. I’m not really sure how they’ve done it – the foundation is so thin out of the tube, makes skin look so great and takes so little to work – but hey, I’m just glad it’s here.

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